


The Miller Family

by gloryasme



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Adopted Children, Because I can, Cassidy and Charlotte solidarity, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Eggs Benedict is Michael Afton, F/M, Harm to Children, I Don't Even Know, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, M/M, Mission Fic, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Indulgent, William Afton and Dave Miller and Purple Guy are the Same Person, gabriel is kind of a prick, he's a sad babey and you can rip that headcanon from my cold dead hands, how do you write 8 yr olds?, i don't like making william the villain, i love them, i want william to bond with these children, jeremy is babey, susie is legit the youngest, why did I change charlie's age?, william and clara are so soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:06:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25145146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloryasme/pseuds/gloryasme
Summary: Cassidy has a run-in with a supernatural being that screws with her plans to enact revenge on William. And Cassidy has to live with him, his wife, his three kids, Charlie and the five ghost children. Great.
Relationships: Cassidy & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, Elizabeth Afton & Susie, Fritz & Jeremy, Gabriel & Crying Child, Michael Afton & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, William Afton | Dave Miller & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, William Afton | Dave Miller & The Five Missing Children, William Afton | Dave Miller/Mrs. Afton
Comments: 13
Kudos: 61





	1. Mission Impossible

**Author's Note:**

> The timeline is strange, the latest known date of the timeline is 1995, the summer the Silver Eyes takes place in. FNaF 1 is debatable and FNaF 3 takes place thirty years later. 2025. Plus another 20 years for the difference. 2045.
> 
> Keep in mind I haven't read any of the books.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I edited the story oop-
> 
> Aftons:  
> William  
> Clara  
> Michael (Benedict)  
> Terrance  
> Elizabeth  
> Chris
> 
> Ghost Kids:  
> Gabriel (Freddy)  
> Jeremy (Bonnie)  
> Susie (Chica)  
> Fritz (Foxy)  
> Cassidy (Goldie)  
> Michael Brooks (Goldie)
> 
> Golden Freddy has a third spirit- Kelsey- who will have purpose later on

No one knew what to expect when they found them in the confines of a large house. Homey filled with photo frames of an all too familiar family.

The spirits went straight to Cassidy with their questions, as she was their ringleader. She refused to answer any questions until everyone was there, which included sitting awkwardly with their killer in the same room.

Neither party felt comfortable.

“What the hell is this?” Michael spat, standing in the doorway, the last to appear in the living room with Terrance on his heels. His eyes raking over the family couch, where five spirits sat idly. The loveseat where both his parents sat, to the recliner where Elizabeth and Chris were. Cassidy and Charlotte were standing in the middle of the room. All eyes were on the boys in the doorway.

“Nice of you to join us,” Chris comments dryly, turning his gaze over to Cassidy. It was strange to witness, seeing as his eye sockets were just pools of black, but you could seem to feel when his gaze was on you.

Michael settled against the door frame and officially set the meeting into motion. The room sat in hungry silence.

“I thought it was over.” Clara finally says, in barely a whisper, rubbing her fingers together awkwardly. Somehow, her quiet voice projected across the room.

William rubbed soothing circles into her back but kept his eyes firmly between his shoes. (It felt nice to harbour a human body again since he didn’t exactly get to enjoy it in hell.) He didn’t dare look at the children.

Cassidy looked at the reunited couple numbly, before turning her attention more towards the ghost children, eagerly awaiting an explanation to the delay of their “fun”. None of them really considered it fun anymore.

“I was… interrupted, in my planning.” She starts. “By a being far more powerful than Charlotte and I combined.”

“So, what happened?” Fritz asks, leaning in like a child being told an enthralling story. Well, technically, he was a child. It just wasn’t too enthralling.

“She set this up.” Cassidy gestured to their surroundings. “She wants William to fix his mistakes. A fair amount of his animatronics are still out, she wants us to hunt them down and deactivate them.”

“Why do we have to do that fucker’s dirty work?” Gabriel scoffed, sinking into the couch cushions with a huff. Pre-teen hormones and all.

…wait.

“Simultaneously, she’s brought us back here with him to just…” Cassidy shrugged. “Live the lives we never got to.”

“Hold up, she brought us back to life, with the man that killed us, to just… live? He’s gonna kill us again!” Susie cried.

“If this being wanted us to live, why not send us back to our families?!” Gabriel yelled.

Michael snorts from his place on the wall but doesn’t bother to explain why when their gazes turn to him.

“SHE DIDN’T TELL ME WHY!” Cassidy yelled over the growing distress of the ghost children. Jeremy and Other Michael was quiet. (Michael Afton and Michael Brooks, not confusing at all.) “She just said this is what we’re doing. We’re playing the roles of a perfect household.”

A moment of silence. “Are we going back to school?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes.” The response was a quiet rumble amongst the spirits. “William created a false identity for himself. Dave Miller, right.” She looked over to the man with an eyebrow raised. He nods, making eye contact for a second. A second too long. “So, most of us will be taking on similar alias’.”

“What year is it?” Michael asked. “Depending on how long it’s been since the whole Fazbear franchise shit’s gone down, I doubt too many of us will actually have to change our names.”

Cassidy seems to just realise this herself and presses her lips together in a line.

“It’s twenty thirty.” Charlotte supplies. “Three years since.”

“Additional question,” Chris adds, raising his arm and raising his pointer finger like a student. “Why are Michael and Terrance teenagers?”

Michaels's eyes snapped down to his body, not having seemed to realise it. “SHIT.”

“Michael and Terrance have to go through school again,” Cassidy says. “One died when he was eighteen and the other was well over thirty so.” She shrugged. “It’s an excuse for them to be in school again I guess.”

“Wait, so,” Fritz says, gaining the rooms attention then. “We’re here to play “house” as a cover for us going out to find William’s kill-bots and dismantle them? It’s what- thirty something years and they’re still active?! How?! We saw the decay the Spring Bonnie suit was in!”

“The Spring Bonnie suit hadn’t been used or moved since William died in it. It was used once the Fazbear Fright’s location re-awoke his spirit. If other’s have had well enough cover, or people stupid enough to repair them, then I believe it’s possible they’re still in use and roaming.” Cassidy replies. “But yes, that’s just about it.”

Silence filtered into the room again.

“I think I’d like to keep my name the way it is,” Jeremy muttered. There was a quiet hum of agreement from the not-spirits.

Gabriel scoffed. “But I bet our legal surnames are gonna be Afton for something.”

“Actually, the Afton family is a somewhat famous story, considering its past,” Charlotte says. “So, we’re sticking with Miller.”

“Perfect.”

“What about the fact that there’re two Michael’s?”

“Benedict is fine.” Michael A shrugs. “I got used to it.”

Some people gave him confused looks but they didn’t question it.

William sighs and stands up. “Kids, I know you all hate me.” Their glaring was enough, even his own kids seemed pissed off. “And I don’t blame you. I’m sure after we’re done with the animatronics, this “being” Cassidy ran into can return us to that hell you guys put me in. Or you can all leave,” He waved his hands dismissively. “whatever you want to do, I guess. I can’t speak for them.”

“I hope so,” Fritz muttered.

Cassidy sighed through her nose. “The being I met has set everything up, so we don’t need to worry too much about groceries for bills.”

“How convenient,” Michael- Benedict commented.

“The quicker we can get rid of these animatronics the better,” Charlotte says to him. He raised his eyebrows at her.

“Alright then, missy.” Her eyes narrowed at the pet name.

Cassidy spied the kitchen clock from the archway between the kitchen in the living room and waved her arms around. “Alright, disperse, it’s five o’clock. Go find your rooms.”

Benedict and Terrance shared a room, at the far end of the hall on the left.

Fritz, Jeremy and Michael shared the next room on the left.

Chris and Gabriel shared the next.

Cassidy and Charlotte shared a room and the far end on the right, mirroring The older boy’s room.

Elizabeth and Susie shared the next, mirroring Fritz, Jeremy and Michael.

At the end of the hall on the right was William and Clara’s room, leaving the one across from theirs and the room across from Chris and Gabriel as guest rooms. Not that they’d ever have any guests over.

William found himself slinking into the basement via a door he found. It was filled with spare bits and pieces for mechanics. He was expected to work in here, it seemed.

Clara found herself in the kitchen, cooking dinner. If they were all alive again, then they’d have to get used to eating again. Plus, she missed cooking.

William came up behind her, arms wrapped around her waist and chin resting on her shoulder.

“I’ve missed you.” He mutters into her hair.

“I missed you too.” She replies smiling. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.”

He shushed her softly. “Don’t worry about it. There’s no use anymore.”

“I just-”

He shushed her again. “It’s over now. There’s no point in dwelling on the past.”

Clara couldn’t help the sob that escaped her throat. William was nothing less than comforting as she turned to cry into his chest. Her repetitive ‘sorry’s drowned out by his voice, deep and soothing, assuring her it was okay.

At some point, Benedict took over cooking and William took Clara outside, into their back garden.

Gabriel wandered aimlessly into the kitchen and eyed Benedict.

“I didn’t know you could cook.” He comments.

Benedict doesn’t react to Gabriel’s presence, just bobs his head in acknowledgement. “I had to learn to cook, though it was pointless after Ennard became part of me.”

“And where is he now?”

“Well, he left.” Benedict shrugged. “He didn’t need me as his skin-suit, he just left. Couldn’t move for a day because of it, the prick.”

Gabriel blinked. “Do you think Ennard could still be out there if it’s been twenty years?”

Benedict pauses as the question registers in his mind. “I mean… probably. If he’s managed to keep jumping from person to person, but it’s actually been forty years.”

“So, we’ll have to dismantle him?”

“Didn’t Cassidy say earlier we were meant to deactivate them?”

“We all know damn well we need to destroy those mother fuckers.”

“Language,” Benedict warned.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m getting into my ‘big brother’ act, y’ like it?” Benedict jokes. Gabriel stares at him, unimpressed. Benedict clears his throat. “Go tell the others dinner is ready.”

Gabriel goes to do as told, finding no reason not to, and Benedict sets out plates for everyone. The table was conveniently big enough for all of them, but fuck that.

Once Benedict was done, he grabbed his plate and sat on the recliner, channel surfing through the shows on T.V. until he found one that caught his interest.

The kids shambled down the stairs and most found their seats. Elizabeth grabbed her plate and sat on the living room floor behind the coffee table, indulging in the garbage soap-opera Benedict had found. Susie followed out of the bond she’d created with Elizabeth when they found out they were sharing rooms. Cassidy followed out of mild curiosity, Charlotte following just because and Michael going along because he didn’t like being separated from Cassidy. Fritz decided; fuck it, and sat in the living room too, leaving Terrance, Gabriel and Jeremy.

William and Clara came back inside. Clara dragged William to the table to eat, which promptly sent Gabriel into the living room as well. Jeremy remained rooted to the chair, slowly forcing the food down.

The three at the dining table ate in silence.

“Y’know,” William started. “You can sit in the living room with the other kids.” He noticed Elizabeth steal the remote from the arm of the recliner by Benedict and was now finding something better to watch. Michael didn’t really complain that much.

Jeremy wordlessly shook his head, bangs falling into his eyes and continued to eat. He pushed his hair away from his eyes continuously.

Benedict was, unsurprisingly, the first to finish, commenting on how it felt to have a stomach again as he placed the plate and his utensils into the dishwasher. He paused passing the dining room table.

“If you’re not hungry you don’t have to eat it, kid.” Jeremy grimaced but shook his head again. Benedict lingers there for a moment. “If you’re sure, I guess. Just wrap it up in plastic wrap or something and put it in the fridge for later.”

He continued up the stairs to his room.

“Michael’s right y’ know, don’t force yourself.” Clara reminds him gently.

“Yeah, alright.” Jeremy sighs, awkwardly pushing off the chair. “Uh, where is the plastic wrap?”

“Third draw.” Benedict’s voice echoes into the room. Jeremy jolts and Clara chokes.

“Michael, what the fuck?!” she shrieks.

“My room has a thing to the kitchen.” They look up to where Benedict’s voice is coming from. A flap in the ceiling opened up to show off Benedict’s face, grinning like the Cheshire cat. “I didn’t scare you, did I?”

“I’m immune to fear,” William says, continuing to eat. “Twenty or so years of torment in hell does that.”

“Boo,” Benedict whined, but he closed the hatch.

Jeremy opened the third draw and pulled out a fresh box of plastic wrap. He made quick work of wrapping up his plate and placing it in the fridge. He makes a start for the stairs.

“Jeremy!” Susie calls, halting him in his tracks.

“Yes?”

“Come here! We’re watching a movie called Up, it looks cool!”

“I-”

“Get your ass in here!” Fritz yelled good-heartedly. Jeremy locked up for a moment, before following their voices into the living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://purplebutdeadly.tumblr.com/post/623082594434760704/ch-1-mission-impossible


	2. First Day (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethnicity, because yes.
> 
> The Aftons are white.  
> The Emilys are white.  
> Gabriel, Susie and Cassidy are white.  
> Jeremy is black.  
> Fritz is from a Spanish family but was raised in America.  
> Michael Brooks is white
> 
> Also, I have no goddamn clue how American school's work so I'm just gonna use my own personal experience with school here.
> 
> Also, reminder, the kids are from the 1980s-90s where racism was more generally accepted/acted upon

Benedict choked on the collar of his shirt and grumbled, deciding to just leave the top button undone. He adjusted his blazer when a knock on his door drew his attention. He turned and pulled the door open, meeting Charlotte’s brown eyes.

“Are the ties compulsory?” She asked, fiddling with the one in her hand.

“You shouldn’t know what compulsory means.” Benedict comments. “But no, I don’t think so.”

Charlotte hums and looks up at him. “You should get an eye patch for the missing eye.”

He blinked and Charlotte grimaced. “Missing?”

He stepped into the hall and to the bathroom. He leaned over the sink and pulled his bangs out of his eyes. The eye Ennard had replaced was, in fact, still missing, but his body was alive again so it’s not like he was complaining.

“You bangs usually cover it, but not from a certain angle,” Charlotte says from the doorway.

“Fuckin’ hell is there an eyepatch in here?” he opened the mirror cabinet and groaned. “HOW FUCKING CONVENIENT.” He scoffed. “There’s a note.” He plucks the paper off the plastic case of medical eyepatches. “For everyone who needs them – what? Who else needs an eyepatch?”

He opens the packet and pulls one over his eye then shoves a few extra in his blazer pocket. Just in case.

“If I were to guess, Chris,” Charlotte responds.

“Fuck off,” Benedict muttered, slinking past her and heading back to his room.

Charlotte blinked, turned and headed downstairs into the kitchen, where Clara was. William was there too, sitting at the dining table with his head in his arms, groaning. Charlotte ignored him.

“What’re you making?”

“Lunch,” Clara replied. “You could probably buy lunch at school, but it’s been so long since I’ve made anything.”

Charlotte smiles softly at the woman. “Thank you!”

“Of course.”

Clara takes a second to refill William’s mug with coffee, which he lifts his head to kiss her thank you before letting it fall into his arms again. Clara set a bowl of porridge on the table for Charlotte, breakfast, she assumed, so she sat and ate.

The other kids came and went, most took their bowls with them.

William stayed with his head in his arms.

“This is sad to watch.” Charlotte comments, bowl finished of its contents and now left unattended on the table.

“You’re sad to watch,” William mumbled into the table sarcastically. “You’re the spirit of a three-year-old trapped in the body of a-” he pauses and looks up. “Puppet? Bear? Thing…”

The remark would’ve been amusing, had Charlotte been in a joking mood. “So, what’s got you moping around?” She asks, leaning across the table.

“Why don’t you look up what a menstrual cycle is before it happens to you and mind your own business.”

“Don’t comment about a girl’s period, father.” Benedict scoffed in passing. “It’s gross.”

“Don’t call me dad unless you mean it.”

“Aight, Scrap-trap it is then.”

“Do I look like a trap to you?”

Benedict pauses, leans over and hooks a finger into his father’s hair-tie, tugging out the ponytail. William lifts his head and death stares Benedict, who seems only amused. “Yes, yes you do. Grow a beard or something.” He tosses the hair-tie onto the table and walks away, stealing his father’s cup of coffee on the way out.

William haphazardly ties his hair back again, and lies back onto the table, this time not bothering to hide in his arms.

“Is something bothering you?” Charlotte asks.

“You’re bold for a girl sitting alone in a room full of knives with your murderer.”

“You look too dead inside to move fast enough to get one right now.” Charlotte retorts. “Besides,” she leans close, almost whispering. “I’m not afraid of you. Not anymore.” She places her bowl in the dishwasher as she leaves.

William snorts at the quote, something she- the puppet- had told him during his time in hell, then sighed and brought his arms up, once again resuming his position at the table.

Clara entered once again, having collected the empty bowls from the kids, and put them in the dishwasher. Thirteen people living under the same roof filled it up quickly since they’ve only had two meals in the house so far.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Will,” Clara tells him.

“I have to pretend I’m still interested in mechanics.” He groaned, leaning back into his chair and ignoring the popping noises his back makes in the process. Clara came up behind him, squeezing his shoulders and kissing his forehead.

“It makes a good alibi if anyone were to find out about the animatronics.” She reasons. “And a reason to get close, should any show-up.”

William grumbled. “I guess so.”

“Gross, affection.” Elizabeth cringes, placing her bowl into the dishwasher. “Don’t mind me, just your only daughter back from the dead.”

Clara smiles and opens her arms out. Elizabeth takes the invitation to dive right into her mother’s arms. William grimaces and Elizabeth scoffs. “Join the fucking hug.”

“Okay, damn!” William relents, sliding out of his chair and wrapping his arms around his two favourite women.

“Don’t swear, Elizabeth, you’re too young,” Clara warns.

“Tell Gabriel that,” Elizabeth mutters.

“He’s not my kid.” William reminds her as the hug falls apart. The adults step back and William is reminded just how small Elizabeth is, barely past his elbow.

“He’s only younger by two years!” Elizabeth cried.

“Hush,” Clara says, kneeling down towards her daughter. “It’s almost school time, so can you herd the others down here so they can catch the bus?”

Elizabeth huffs, but nods, and runs upstairs, yelling for the others with more than the necessary amount of cuss words.

“She doesn’t listen.” William comments.

“She’s trying to rile you up,” Clara responds. “And it’s working.”

All eleven kids had their respective timetables, the older kids assisting each to find their classrooms.

What kind of school covers every grade? One that functioned to be convenient (as most kids in the same age range shared classes with each other), that’s what. Benedict didn’t trust how easy everything was just yet.

* * *

Fritz, Susie and Chris were all in the same class. The teacher was nice enough, though, and said they could go find someone to talk to before class started. They didn’t have too since a girl came right up to them.

She’s got incredibly pale skin, almost like a ghost, with lots of thick black hair. Half was left out, falling to her hips, the other half was halved again and tied into pigtails with blue ribbons. She had a beauty mark under her left eye, both of which were a dark blue.

A boy was standing off to the side, eyeing the other girls back. His hair was pink, for some reason, with dark brown, almost black, eyes. He wore a dark brown leather jacket over the uniform and a hat to complete his “mysterious stranger” vibe.

The girl held her hand out to Susie. “My name is Ophelia, what’s yours?”

“Susie,” the brunette-blonde replied, thrown off by the boisterous girl- Ophelia. She’d spent so much time around the boys' negativity, Cassidy barely spoke to them about anything other than revenge and they didn’t know Charlotte for the first while. Positivity was something she didn’t know she craved.

“Fritz and this is Chris.” The boy added.

“Well, Susie, see that prick over there?” Ophelia gestured behind her, to the boy watching them. He raised an eyebrow at having the attention suddenly thrust at him. “That’s Vance. He seems kinds mean but he’s just angsty.”

“Do you know everyone in this class?” Susie asked.

“Of course!” Ophelia laughed. “I’m the queen here, I must know all of my subjects by name!”

Vance scoffed loudly, making sure Ophelia heard it. She glared at him, and he smirked back. “Alright then, your highness, what’s my last name?”

Ophelia hesitates and Vance had the audacity to laugh at her. The girl scoffs, flicking her hair out her face (the heat must be bothering her, considering out thick her hair is- actually how the fuck was Vance wearing a jacket?? Benedict was wearing his blazer?? Its summer what the fuck??). “Anyways, welcome to the class, or whatever. I’m gonna go see if the others will help me steal Vance’s hat.”

Chris stole one of the extra eyepatches Benedict had in his pocket to cover the claw marks over his eye, courtesy of one of the Nightmare’s visits. Chris figured out his eye thing (where his eyes were just black) was just something that could be turned off and on, and the other kids found out they could shift between animatronic form and human, which would probably become handy for their night-time missions.

He’s glad he didn’t have to bring Fredbear with him, he actually hadn’t seen Fredbear since suddenly being forced back to the living world. The bear always creeped the hell out of him. And it followed him everywhere. He hated it.

Jeremy was fucking terrified. He was alone and locking up. Benedict eased him into the classroom with a palm between Jeremy’s shoulder blades. Benedict spoke to the teacher, but Jeremy was too shaken up to listen. Was his breathing always this loud?

“Hey, hey.” It was suddenly quiet, and he could focus on Benedict’s voice. “Hey, breathe, kid, calm down.”

Jeremy wasn’t really sure what was happening, or where he was until a hot burning sensation filled his mouth and he choked, spiting into the napkin Benedict brought with him. Did he prepare for this?

“Sorry,” Benedict says. “You were spiralling into a panic attack and that usually helps with me.”

“What did you do?” Jeremy asks, wiping at his mouth. Benedict holds up an open packet of wasabi. “Oh.”

“Kid.” Benedict placed his free hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. He’s taken a knee in front of Jeremy. “It’s okay, I know your school experience wasn’t the best, but times are different now.”

“How would you know what my school life was like?”

“I did my research,” Benedict responds. “I looked you guys up after you disappeared. Look, that’s not the point. The point is; these kids aren’t gonna care about what colour your skin is, most of them are multi-racial too.”

“But-”

“Just look, okay?” Jeremy bites his lip and nods, then peers into the classroom. As Benedict had said, there was a decent mix of races and culture in the room. “Here.” Benedict pulled out a handkerchief (why did he own one??) and tied it around Jeremy’s neck. It didn’t go with the uniform at all but whatever. “This has a chamomile oil in it, it helps calm anxiety.”

“Thanks,” Jeremy muttered.

  
“'S not a problem, kid,” Benedict replied as they walk back in. Benedict goes back to talking to the teacher as Jeremy is escorted to his seat by Cassidy.

* * *

Gabriel was bored.

The teacher made everyone in the class sit in a circle on the floor, saying something about just getting to know each other since it was the first day. Most of these kids already knew each other, having been at the same school for five years.

“My name is Amandine Bechard and my family moved here from France two years ago.”

“Uh, my names Gabriel Ll- uh- Miller. Uh- I- my parents died and I- uh I was adopted… yeah.” Real fucking smooth Gabriel, fucking perfect.

It seems the entire circle of kids was somewhat awkward, and they were all too focused on their own stories to really laugh at anyone else. That made Gabriel feel somewhat better.

“You’re adopted?”

His head snapped to the girl beside him. “Uh- yes?”

Amandine nods. “That’s interesting… if you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”

She’s small with brown hair. Two braids falling over her shoulders with the rest in a loose ponytail. Her eyes are green with yellow framed glasses. She spoke with a French accent. ~~(No shit she does, she said she’s from France!)~~

“Uh, sorry, it’s a… a rough subject.”

She grins at him. “It’s okay.”

Elizabeth was alone and annoyed, sitting with one leg propped on top of the other, her cheeks held in her hands.

A black girl wandered over. Her hair is long, hip length and brown in dreadlocks. Some of the matted strands of hair were curled up into pig-buns. Her face was just faintly speckled with freckles and she has a Band-Aid on the lower half of her left cheek. She’s got a black choker on and a brown coat over her uniform.

“Haiya! You’re new right?” She asks. Elizabeth’s eyes flick over to look at her. “My name’s Winona! What’s yours?”

“Elizabeth.” She responds after looking the other girl up and down.

Winona falters a bit but masks it quickly. “That’s a pretty name! Do you wanna hang out with my friends at break?”

“Sure,” Elizabeth replies, seeing she had nothing better to do.

* * *

Benedict and Terrance got to their class a fair bit late, but the teacher didn’t seem to care as he droned on, rattling off names from the roll.

“Amelia?”

“Present.”

“Michael?”

“Here.” He called.

“Terrance?”

“Here.”

“Simon?”

“Present, sir.”

The class sounded just as dead as the teacher died.

“Hey.” Terrance turned towards the voice. The girl? Maybe?? sitting at the desk behind her.

They’ve got platinum white hair, with bangs over their right eye. Their eyes are brown and they’re wearing a spiked choker with a cross earing hanging from one ear.

“That’s a nasty scar ya’ got there, you alright?”

“Oh, uh, yeah I’m good,” Terrance responds, shyly playing with the scarf around his neck.

“Where’d you get it?” They ask.

“Uh, I was attacked… by a machine.”

“A machine with claws?” They asked, raising an eyebrow.

“…Yup.”

There’s a moment of silence before they slide their hand over their desk. “The name’s Kaliska.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://purplebutdeadly.tumblr.com/post/623409586225954816


	3. First Day (Part 2)

True to Shawn’s word, Chris was swarmed with questions from curious children about his eye once some kid pointed it out. Not all the kids on the playground, thankfully, but the small ones who didn’t know any better asked the same question twenty times.

He could see Fritz laughing at him from the corner. What an asshole.

Elizabeth easily strode over, using her height advantage to force the smaller kids out of the way. “Chris,” she greeted in a sickly-sweet tone. “Are they bothering you?”

“Depends.” He replied. “Who’s asking?”

“Elizabeth” clicked her tongue and her eyes shifted back to green.

“What was that?!” Shawn whispered to him as Elizabeth sat on the other side of Chris, not so ceremoniously shoving away a kid attempting to pull the eyepatch off.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Shawn gave Chris a disbelieving look but shrugged it off as his imagination.

* * *

Jeremy peered over Oswald’s shoulder, looking at the drawing the other boy was sketching. His face paled at the drawing, but he gained enough nerve to speak. “What’cha drawing there?”

Oswald jolted, hunching forward to hide the drawing, then relaxed when he realised it was just Jeremy. “It’s nothing – just… something I dream about sometimes…”

The drawing was a rough sketch of an animatronic rabbit, tall and gangly with sharp teeth and creepy eyes.

“Do you have a name for him?” Jeremy asked.

Oswald hummed, opening and closing his mouth for a moment. “Nope.”

“What about… Spring Bonnie?” Jeremy suggested, using the name of the bunny suit William wore during his… early days. When he murdered Jeremy. When he murdered them all.

“Spring Bonnie?” Oswald echoed. “That’s awfully specific…”

Jeremy laughed awkwardly. “It’s just the name of an old spring-lock suit from Fazbear Entertainment.”

“Fazbear…. You’ve heard of that place?” Oswald asked.

Jeremy hums. “Yeah, they had locations all over the country, didn’t they? I think a few even overseas.” Jeremy really hoped that wasn’t the case. He didn’t want to travel overseas to fight some animatronic. He didn’t even want to leave this town to do so. ~~He didn’t want to do this in the first place.~~

“Really?” Oswald mused, staring at the bunny drawing. “I think there’s a location in this town, actually. It’s been abandoned for years though.”

“You don’t say…” Jeremy muttered. Oswald raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t get to question when the bell for the end of the day rang. Jeremy was off in a second, waving a half-assed; “See you later!” over his shoulder.

* * *

The ennead of children piled onto the bus, most taking up the concession seats, with Michael and Charlotte using their height advantage to stand, one holding the handles hanging from the ceiling.

“Did anyone get any hint of an animatronic?” Gabriel asked, fulfilling the role of leader Charlotte had given him so many years ago.

“I did,” Jeremy spoke. “A kid in my class was drawing Spring Bonnie. I asked and he said there was a closed down building somewhere in the city.”

Michael was sure he could’ve figured that out earlier if he bothered to do any online research, but he didn’t, so he let the kids continue.

“I guess that’s a good start,” Fritz muses. “But I doubt we’ll find anything. I don’t understand why the animatronics would stay dormant inside the pizzeria – or whatever variation of the franchise.”

“If anything, we’ll see what state the place was left in,” Cassidy says. “It’s strange that the building wasn’t reused for something and was just left there.”

“We don’t know that.” Susie denies. “They could be rebuilding it, and the public just doesn’t know yet.”

“Maybe.” Cassidy concedes.

Chris’ face scrunches up. “Okay, but Spring Bonnie is one of the older animatronics, why would your friend know about him?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth agreed. “How do you know it wasn’t Bonnie, or Rockstar Bonnie or something.”

“I’m slowly hating the word _Bonnie_.” Michael comments.

Jeremy shrugged, sinking into the red handkerchief still wrapped around his neck. He inhaled the faint scent of the oil and figured Michael would want it back sooner or later, but the older man was staring at his phone screen bored. Jeremy supposed he could keep it a little longer.

Michael suddenly gave a low whistle that interrupted the conversing ghost kids. They all looked at him curiously. “Looks like someone dug up Circus Baby’s Rental Service.” He explained, showing his phone screen to the kids. “Funtime Freddy’s on sale.”

Elizabeth barked out a laugh. “That’s nowhere near how expensive Freddy is! Daddy spent too much time constructing the Funtime’s for one to be sold at a hundred dollars.”

Chris’ eyes narrowed at the image. “Hey, didn’t Funtime Freddy have like… a hand puppet, or something?”

“Bon Bon?” Michael asked, looking at the photo again.

Elizabeth cringed. “Oof, no wonder he’s active. Freddy doesn’t like being separated from Bon Bon for too long. I guess he’s out looking for him.”

Cassidy stole Michael’s phone from his hand and zoomed in on the photos. “Y ’know,” She mused. “He seems to be in awfully good condition for not being in use for almost fifty years.”

“I’m gonna send the link to William, he can buy Freddy and that’s one animatronic down,” Michael says.

Gabriel snorts to himself. “My dad would whoop my ass for calling him by his name.”

“Mine too.” Jeremy agreed though he didn’t seem to be amused.

“Well, I don’t consider him my father anymore.” Michael scoffed, and the kids fell into silence.

* * *

The building – which was indeed a pizzeria – was fenced off. Said fenced posed no threat to them, as Michael climbed over and caught the kids Charlotte helped over.

Michael kicked the boards off the front door and pulls a flashlight out of his backpack to shine into the building. It wasn’t too dark, considering it was still early afternoon, but certain rooms definitely wouldn’t have windows.

The kids separated and looked about. Cassidy eyes the unsettle dust everywhere. “Seems like someone got here before us.”

“I’m surprised this place isn’t covered in graffiti,” Michael responded. “It’s still stocked too, the hell?”

“It seems like the place was just suddenly abandoned, not like it was closed down,” Gabriel says.

Chris cringes at the roughed up looking dog sitting on the prize counter. “MIKE!” He called out. “DO YOU EVER REMEMBER THIS AS PART OF DAD’S THINGS?!”

Michael peered into the room with a. few curious ghost children behind him. “What is it?”

“Looks like an actual dog,” Chris replied, picking it up in both hands. He hands it off to Michael, who’s able to hold it in one. He reads off the tag.

“Fetch, yeah, I think I’ve heard of it.” He muses. “I remember the blueprints after going through all of William’s things. It’s built to literally _fetch_ things for its owner. I think in a few cases they straight-up murdered people or other animals though because their owners were bothered.”

“What the fuck?” Gabriel scoffed as Fritz wore a matching expression beside him.

“It’s mostly built to be friendly enough to lure kids away from their parents.”

“Ah…” the leader scoffed. “It’s _supposed_ to kill. Which one of William’s designs weren’t made for murder?”

Michael shrugged. “Most of the Plushtraps, I think.”

“Those things were creepy.” Chris comments. “I had nightmares about them.”

“I’m not surprised, those things were built to chew through anything.”

Fritz scrunched his face up. “God, your father really was a shitty person.”

Chris frowns and Michael blinks blankly at the kid before shoving past him.

“Wait!” Chris called, scrambling after ~~his older brother~~ Michael. “Are we really taking Fetch home?”

“It’s one of William’s animatronics isn’t it?” Michael scoffed. “Of course, we’re taking it.”

Chris grumbled uncomfortably.

* * *

Charlotte was listening intently. She could hear the cries of help. Lost spirits. Most had given up on hope, she can’t help them. One, however, just kept calling, pleading for help. They must’ve died just before the place closed down to still be holding onto that hope.

She followed the cries into a storage room, shoved the door open and pulled open the lid of a bin. Charlotte flinched at the sight of hundreds of small two-three-foot Freddy animatronics. All the voices fell silent. All but one, who continued to cry for help.

She plucked the one out of the pile and cringed at the vomit that stained the robot’s fur. “We need to get you cleaned up.” She muttered, sidestepping to a nearby sink and trying out the water. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work, so she huffed. “I guess we’ll have to take you home then.”

“You can… hear me?” the spirit called.

“Of course.” Charlotte was silent for a second. “I might actually be the only one that can.”

“I need to get to my family!” the bear cried. “I need to apologise to my sister! I need-!”

Charlotte shushed him. “It’s okay. Just, tell me your name first.”

“Alec! Alec Reynolds!” he cried.

“Okay, okay, okay, okay!” Charlotte spares a look at the hopeless souls still trapped. “I’ll get help in a minute, there’s just a lot going on, we’ll get you back to your family, alright Alec?”

The spirit cries out.

Charlotte steps out of the storage room and runs right into the other girls. “Oh, can you three help me? There’s a bin in here full of…” she pauses and holds up the animatronic Alec was trapped in. “These.”

“Lonely Freddies.” Alec names. “They follow around lonely kids, so they have a friend while here.”

Charlotte grimaces slightly but keeps a smile on her face for the other girls. Elizabeth looks like she’s about to say no, but Cassidy smiles up at her (god, it was strange being so much taller than her now) and agrees for the trio.

Together, the quartet piles the animatronics into bags, because there’s no way they’re getting away with taking an entire bin and struggle to carry them all. So, Michael hands Fetch off to Chris and take a couple of bags, instructing the other boys to do so.

* * *

They all get “home” pretty fine. William is out, Clara said he had a car or something and was going to pick up Funtime Freddy. It’d take a few days. Michael laughs at that. “One day in this house and he’s already left. I don’t doubt he won’t come back.” He’d said, earning a disappointed glared from his mother.

The extra Lonely Freddies and Fetch were taken into the basement. Charlotte took Alec straight to the kitchen sink and attempted to scrub the dried vomit off them matted fur. Alec couldn’t really feel pain, so she was rough as she wanted to be with scrubbing.

“So, there’s a soul in that?” Michael asked, loitering around the sink with a glass of water. “Like the others? I thought they were only here because you gave them life?”

“It’s different,” Charlotte responds, scrubbing at a particularly difficult stain. “It’s like the soul was pulled from the body forcefully, the body wasn’t dead.”

“I’m not!” Alec cried. “It stole my body! My family!”

“And I’ll help you get them back, Alec,” Charlotte replies.

  
Michael, on the other hand, promptly chokes on his mouthful of water. “Alec? Alec Reynolds?”

“Yes!” Alec screeches, but Michael can’t hear him.

“How do you know?” Charlotte instead asks.

“He’s in my class,” Michael responds. “Blonde – weird blue-green eyes. Kind of a dickhead I guess.”

“That’s me! That’s me! The Freddy fuckin’ stole my life!” If he could cry, he would be.

“I guess that’s our first official step,” Charlotte says. “Get Alec his body back.”


End file.
